"You did come back to me--you really did!" she lilted. "I didn't dare to hope that you could come so soon." "I had to." Kinnison drew a deep breath. "I simply couldn't stand it any longer. It'll be tough sometimes, but you were right--half a loaf _is_ better than no bread." "Of course it is!" She released herself--partially--after the first transports of their first embrace and eyed him shrewdly. "Tell me, Kim, did Lacy have a hand in this surprise?" "Uh-huh," he denied. "I haven't seen him for ages--but jet back! Haynes told me--say, what'll you bet that those two old hardheads haven't been giving us the works?" "Who are old hardheads?" Haynes--in person--demanded. So deeply immersed had Kinnison been in his rapturous delirium that even his sense of perception was in abeyance; and there, not two yards from the entranced couple, stood the two old Lensmen! The culprits sprang apart, flushing guiltily, but Haynes went on imperturbably, quite as though nothing out of the ordinary had been either said or done: "We gave you fifteen minutes, then came up to be sure to catch you before you flited off to the celebration or somewhere. We have matters to discuss--important matters, but pleasant." "QX. Come in, all of you." As she spoke, the nurse stood aside in invitation. "You know, don't you, that it's exceedingly much contraregs for nurses to entertain visitors of the opposite sex in their rooms? Fifty demerits. Most girls never get a chance at even one Gray Lensmen, and here I've got three!" She giggled infectiously. "Wouldn't it be one for the book for me to get a hundred and fifty black spots for this? And to have Surgeon General Lacy, Port Admiral Haynes, and Unattached Lensman Kimball Kinnison all heaved into the clink to boot? Boy, oh, boy, ain't we got fun?" "Lacy's too old and I'm too moral to be affected by the wiles even of the likes of you, my dear," Haynes explained equably, as he seated himself upon the davenport--the most comfortable thing in the room. "Old? Moral? Tommyrot!" Lacy glared an "I'll-see-you-later" look at the admiral, then turned to the nurse. "Don't worry about that, MacDougall. No penalties accrue--regulations apply only to nurses actually in the service--" "And what--" she started to blaze, but checked herself and her tone changed instantly. "Go on--you interest me strangely, sir. I'm just going to love this!" Her eyes sparkled, her voice was vibrant with unconcealed eagerness. "Told you she was quick on the uptake!" Lacy gloated. "Didn't fox her for a second!" "But say--listen--what's this all about, anyway?" Kinnison demanded. "Never mind; you'll learn soon enough," from Lacy, and: "Kinnison, you are very urgently invited to attend a meeting of the Galactic Council tomorrow afternoon," from Haynes. "Huh? What's up now?" Kinnison protested. His arm tightened about the girl's supple waist and she snuggled closer, a trace of foreboding beginning to dim the eagerness in her eyes.